Clif. Nor should thy prowess want praise and

esteem,

'But that 'tis shown ignobly, and in treason.

York. So let it help me now against thy sword, As I in justice and true right express it!

Clif. My soul and body on the action both!York. A dreadful lay!-address thee instantly. [They fight, and CLIFFORD falls.

Clif. La fin couronne les œuvres.

[Dies.2 York. Thus war hath given thee peace, for thou

art still.

'Peace with his soul, Heaven, if it be thy will! [Exit.

Enter Young CLifford.

*Y. Clif. Shame and confusion! all is on the

rout:

*Fear frames disorder, and disorder wounds

* Where it should guard. O war, thou son of hell,
*Whom angry Heavens do make their minister,
*Throw in the frozen bosoms of our part
*Hot coals of vengeance! Let no soldier fly:
* He that is truly dedicate to war,

* Hath no self-love; nor he, that loves himself,
*Hath not essentially, but by circumstance,
* The name of valor.-O, let the vile world end,
[Seeing his dead father.

1 A dreadful wager.

2 The author, in making Clifford fall by the hand of York, has departed from the truth of history, a practice not uncommon with him when he does his utmost to make his characters considerable. This circumstance, however, serves to prepare the reader or spectator for the vengeance afterwards taken by Clifford's son on York and Rutland. At the beginning of the third part of this drama, the Poet has forgot this circumstance, and there represents Clifford's death as it really happened

"Lord Clifford, and lord Stafford, all abreast,

Charged our main battle's front, and breaking in,
Were by the swords of common soldiers slain."

These lines were adopted by Shakspeare from The True Tragedy of Richard Duke of York, upon which the Third Part of King Henry VI. is founded.

* And the premised' flames of the last day * Knit earth and heaven together!

*Now let the general trumpet blow his blast,
* Particularities and petty sounds

*To cease! 2-Wast thou ordained, dear father,
*To lose thy youth in peace, and to achieve
*The silver livery of advised age;

*And, in thy reverence, and thy chair-days, thus
*To die in ruffian battle?-Even at this sight,
*My heart is turned to stone; and, while 'tis mine,
*It shall be stony. York not our old men spares;
*No more will I their babes: tears virginal
*Shall be to me even as the dew to fire;
* And beauty, that the tyrant oft reclaims,
* Shall to my flaming wrath be oil and flax.
* Henceforth I will not have to do with pity:
* Meet I an infant of the house of York,
* Into as many gobbets will I cut it,
* As wild Medea young Absyrtus did:

* In cruelty will I seek out my fame.

'Come, thou new ruin of old Clifford's house.

[Taking up the body.

As did Æneas old Anchises bear,
So bear I thee upon my manly shoulders

* But then Æneas bare a living load,
Nothing so heavy as these woes of mine.

[Exit.

Enter RICHARD PLANTAGENET and SOMERSET, fighting,

and SOMERSET is killed.

Rich. So, lie thou there;

For underneath an alehouse' paltry sign,

The castle in Saint Albans, Somerset

Hath made the wizard famous in his death.3

1 Premised is sent before their time.

2 To cease is to stop; a verb active.

3 The death of Somerset here accomplishes that equivocal prediction of Jourdain, the witch, in the first act.

* Sword, hold thy temper; heart, be wrathful still; * Priests pray for enemies, but princes kill.

[Exit.

Alarums: Excursions. Enter KING HENRY, QUEEN MARGARET, and others, retreating.

6

Q. Mar. Away, my lord! you are slow; for shame, away!

*K. Hen. Can we outrun the heavens? good Margaret, stay.

*Q. Mar. What are you made of? you'll not fight,

nor fly.

* Now is it manhood, wisdom, and defence,
*To give the enemy way; and to secure us
* By what we can, which can no more but fly.

[Alarum afar off *If you be ta'en, we then should see the bottom *Of all our fortunes; but if we haply scape, * (As well we may, if not through your neglect,) * We shall to London get, where you are loved; * And where this breach, now in our fortunes made, * May readily be stopped.

Enter Young CLIFFORD.

*Y. Clif. But that my heart's on future mischief

set,

*I would speak blasphemy ere bid you fly;
* But fly you must; uncurable discomfit
*Reigns in the hearts of all our present parts.1
Away, for
your relief! and we will live

*

*To see their day, and them our fortune give. Away, my lord, away!

*

[Exeunt.

1 Parts may stand for parties; it may be also an error for party.